


Monsters aren't always born, sometimes they are made.

by ClaireLou



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Baby vids, F/M, Hopeful Ending, I Will Go Down With This Ship, It turned into a heartbreaker., Kylo Ren isnt all that bad, Kylo and Rey having some real talk, Minor Character Death, One Shot, Phasma and Hux are good people, Rey doesnt take shit, Rose is a little horndog, Shared Trauma, slight mentions of murder, this was supposed to be light and funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22601296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireLou/pseuds/ClaireLou
Summary: There was a prompt I came across on pinterest where ‘The biggest baddest guy in school is caught watching cute cat videos and doodling hearts and is a giant dork’ and I was like ooh i want to write that.It however went from being a funny little jaunt and turned into quite an angsty heartwrencher. It has a nice ending though.My title is horrendous, as is my summary but hey, its short and sweet :)
Relationships: Ben Solo/Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 50





	Monsters aren't always born, sometimes they are made.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,   
> Thank you for reading. I wrote this quickly on my notes app so theres probably grammatical errors through the roof, but i hope you like it regardless.  
> If there are any big issues please let me know and if there are any tags you think i should have included tell me :)  
> Other than that enjoy reading and if you are so inclined please leave me a kudos or a comment, they are my jam xx

The crowds of students parted, swiftly, looking anywhere else than at the 3 people walking down the hall. If you were clever you avoided them at all costs. From the black leather Docs, past the ripped, acid washed jeans, up to the arms filled with intimidating yet quite intricate tattoos all the way to the dead eyes and the scowls attached to their faces. You did not mess with them.

Kylo Ren and his cohorts, everyone remembered a time when he wasn’t quite so terrifying but no one mentioned it, the name Ben Solo was a ghost in the halls of Exegol High school. Now him, the stoic Redhead Hux and no nonsense Phasma practically ruled the school. There is something to be said for knowing people in high places, Kylo Ren should have been kicked out of school long ago, but between his family connections and Hux’s they weren’t going anywhere until the aged out like all the other poor souls.

As they exited the double doors heading to the back of the school, before the last bell had even rung, Rey turned around flipping them off.

Her wrist was swiftly grabbed and held back down “What the hell are you doing? Crazy” her best friend Rose stage whispered.

“Im so sick of them, they ruin it for us all” she huffed

“What if they saw you?” Rose blinked up at her.

“One day I hope they do, id love to have that conversation, see how they like it” Rey replied menacingly, whilst smirking imagining her finger jabbed straight into Kylo Rens chest.

“Ok what did they do this time? You only get like this when one of them does something, so which one was it?” Roses voice had softened.

“That ginger haired weasel” Rey dripped acidly turning back to her locker “I was talking to Snap Wexley, asking him if I could have his auto-shop time off him, you know to start my new project because he’s already finished and then Hux the tosser came up to us and paid him, bloody paid him 100 dollars to not give it to me and then scared Wexley off. Like who does that!” She fumed.

“God that boy is so minted” Rose whispered dreamily

Laughing Rey nudged roses shoulder “Get your head out of his wallet Tico”

“No, no i get it, Grade A ‘tosser’” she added with air quotation marks “but id have taken the 100 dollars too” she smiled cheekily.

Rey gasped “Traitor, wheres the solidarity?”

“I bet theres some solidarity in his pants”

“Fucking hell rose, I did not need to hear that. We really need to get you over that horrific crush you have on the ginger psycho” she grabbed a few more books from her locker and nodded her head towards the door “I need to go to the library are you coming or do i need to stage an intervention?”

Rose snorted “I’m sorry, i don’t even know what it is about him, he’s a total dick but..” she saw Reys incredulous look “I just cant help it. Bad boys hey” she shrugged.

“Something like that. You coming?”

“Sorry no, Paige is giving me a ride home tonight so i said id meet her in the gym. I’ll call you later though. Don’t do anything stupid whilst I’m gone, id hate to have to punch the ginger headed weasels perfect face in your honour” she punched her palm and laughed as she turned around.

“Idiot” Rey murmured lovingly. Rose hadn’t been Reys first friend at Exegol High but she had certainly been the best. The right amount of everything to balance out Reys wrong. She loved her even if she fancied the Devil.

Humming to herself she made her way towards the library, school had ended so it was the best time to get anything done, most of her classmates were eager to get home for the weekend but she was quite happy staying here in the solitude of an empty library.

She pushed open the door slowly, it had a habit of jarring if you pushed it too fast. Looking around the place was empty, just how she liked it. Finding herself a desk in the back she set out her books and started to plot her new auto-shop project.

She was busy drawing and concentrating on her measurements that she missed the first soft laugh, but as she leant back to look at her design she didn’t miss the second one. Her head spun round, startled, she hadn’t heard anyone come in and she couldn’t see anyone.

She focused hard trying to hear the noise again and just as she shook her head deciding she was imagining things, the soft chuckle sounded again. She now knew there was someone here.

She stood up slowly, making sure not to make a sound and followed the whisper of a laugh through the stacks. She had made it though nearly all of them before she came upon a sight she had never expected.

Kylo Ren sat, by himself, in the corner of the room a laptop on front of him and shoulders shaking with a suppressed laugh. To say Rey was gobsmacked was an understatement.

She wasn’t sure what to do now, move closer or very swiftly leave. It was Kylo Ren after all, whatever he was laughing at could not be good, probably plotting someones demise and revelling in the details. He seemed the type, but then again the bad boy effect never really did it for her and she was more curious about him than scared.

Stiffening her spine and taking a deep slow breath she decided to edge forwards, moving incrementally so as not to be seen she made her way towards him. She was not prepared for what she saw next.

There, upon the screen of the dreaded Kylo Ren was.... A Cute baby crawling around on screen laughing.

Reys hands flew to her mouth, her eyes creased and she started to sweat with the effort of holding back her laugh.

What the hell!

The sudden movement must have caught his attention because quicker than she would have thought possible, his head turned towards her, eyes bright and mouth gaping open.

He must have found himself after a second or two because he wasted no time in slamming the laptop shut and standing ominously.

“What did you see?” He demanded, he probably sounded imposing to someone else but Rey had just seen his pure joyous reactions at tiny babies and she could not find it in her to be even a little bit frightened.

Big Bad Kylo Ren was a baby loving puppy dog.

She straightened up, still wheezing slightly from the laugh she had been holding and patted down her ribs, she noticed his eyes followed the action.

Coughing she responded “Nothing” she noticed his shoulders relax, probably thinking she would be too scared to question him. Wrong! “Except for Mr Nasty indulging in cute little baby bottoms and dribble faces” she answered in a sing song baby voice.

His gaze turned murderous and his hands clenched “what did you say?”

“Oh give it a rest and sit back down” she threw at him sternly “you were watching baby videos and quite frankly enjoying them. I don’t blame you babies are cute” she smiled.

“I was not watching baby videos, why would i do that? You wrong, no one will believe you. I’ll make sure they don’t” he warned stepping closer.

Rey stood her ground, she wouldn’t be intimidated, she folded her arms across her chest and looked up into his face. She noticed his eye twitch, thinking to herself he wasn’t as brave and full of bravado as he made out.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone Kylo” she answered softly “If i was more like you, I’m sure id have already sent a video of you doing it around the school, but I’m not a monster”

His face paled and his shoulders dipped. “I’m not a monster” he whispered so lowly Rey barely heard him, but he forgets that this is a library and theres nothing else to hear but each other.

“You aren’t exactly an angel either though are you Kylo” she raised her brow at him.

“I...Well... Yeah i have no answer to that Rey” he looked up at her, sadder than she thought Kylo Ren could ever be. It took her a second to notice he said her name.

“You know my name?” She balked

He smirked then, seemed to be happier now he had an advantage “Of course I know your name Rey Johnson, the ‘Orphan Sand Gremlin’”

Rey growled “If you’re going to throw insults I’ll just leave you to it, yeah” she turned to stalk away, but her wrist was grabbed tightly by a very large and very warm hand.

“Wait, so you can call me names but I cant call you?” He asked harshly.

She turned towards him, looking down at his hand covering her skin.

“Thats different, you are a monster, everyone knows it and you wear the badge with pride. You make our lives a living hell here, you and your merry band of psychos, you earned it. I didn’t earn that name, it was given to me through no fault of my own” she yanked her hand away.

“I wasn’t always a psycho as you politely put it, i don’t think I’m particularly a psycho now” Rey snorted a derisory laugh “okay, maybe I am but I didn’t start out this way. Shit happens and we become what we have to be” he sounded exasperated and angry. Something fell into the pit of Reys stomach, sympathy perhaps. He sounded a little broken.

“What happened to you Kylo? What happened to Ben?” She murmured.

Kylos eyes shot to hers like a bullet at the mention of his old name. He went to open his mouth but seemed to be warring with himself with whatever he was about to say. He must have settled on an answer because his mouth finally closed and he shut down.

“Nothing important” a broken whisper. His eyes returned to the floor.

She stepped closer, bowing her head a little to look in his eyes, “Something happened to the dork that likes baby videos to turn him into you Kylo, that doesn’t happen for no reason. I know the reasons why I am who I am, and I know what made me this way. Maybe one day you can share your reasons with someone and they can watch baby videos with you too” she nodded sagely.

“Shes my niece” he spoke softly “The baby in the video, shes my brothers daughter”

Rey tried to hide her shock, she hadn’t even known Kylo had a brother, but that explained his joy at seeing the small child on his screen. “Oh, I didn’t know you had...” she trailed off as his face became pinched again.

“Not many people do, no one really remembers him.” 

Remembers him? Rey had the sinking feeling in her stomach again, sympathy and horror on what might be revealed. She touched his arm softly, his face softened towards her. “What happened to him?”

“He was so good, he was the best brother, so smart. He didn’t even go to this school, everyone thought he was gifted, he was accepted in to Coruscant Prep before he even turned 10. He was on track for everything you could have wanted in life. Then he got ill. They hadn’t accounted for that when they planned their life together, him and Kaydel. His hospital bills piled up, they didn’t have enough money. They took out loans, to bad people, he owed them so much and it made no difference, he was still ill and then they discovered that Kaydel was pregnant” Kylo sounded distraught at this point,

“Mum and dad tried to help, but there was only so much they could do, the loan sharks started circling. Must have smelt blood, my brother was so stupid, he tried to find a way to pay them back. It backfired hugely, ended up in more of a pit, they killed him”

“Oh Ben, thats horrible” she flung her arms around him and he stiffened before his arms came around her back and she felt him shudder though this time she guessed it was tears racking his body and not a laugh. “Have you ever told anyone this before?”

“I have. Hux and Phasma know. I know they are the last people you’d think would lend a shoulder but no one really knows them. They were always rough around the edges but for good reason. Huxs dad was a loan shark” Rey gasped “no, not the one that killed my brother but he did work for him and Phasmas parents sold her to them when she was a child, to pay off debts”

It was Reys turn to feel tears track down her face, it was all so horrible.

“I don’t even know what to say!” She sniffed. She realised they still had their arms wrapped around each other, she didn’t know who needed it more.

“I think the 3 of us just became a team, shared trauma I think its called. We met in group therapy, there was a court case for my brother and so many things came to light, so the kids involved ended up being offered support. We just kind of ended up together. They’ve kept me from doing some really stupid shit. I wanted to kill him, I was prepared to go after him, the man who killed my brother left my niece without a father. I was stupid, they talked me out of it, they are actually really good people” he smiled softly, the tears in his eyes drying up slowly.

“No one knows this about any of you, for years we have all kept our distance, that probably didn’t help at all. It kind of all makes sense now” she moved back slightly, extracting herself from his arms. He looked bereft.

“Its not really something you just blurt out to people is it, though for some reason i did to you” he pondered curiously.

“I’ve been told i have a therapists face” she smiled cheekily

He startled her then with a laugh, the smile on his lips lit up his whole face.

“Yeah, maybe thats it” he grinned.

“Do you want to maybe talk some more? Tell me about your niece, she looked really cute” she raised her eyebrows at him in question.

“You know, I would actually really like that” he said upliftingly stepping back to pick up his bag and laptop.

“Come on then” she held out her hand waiting for him to take it. He looked down and then back to her. Shyly placing his hands in hers he motioned for her to lead the way.

She tugged him closer and walked back to her stuff, with kylo trailing behind. She had a good feeling about this, maybe her and her therapist face might be able to lead the once fearsome Kylo Ren back to the Ben Solo that haunts these walls.


End file.
